Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1887-04-14
THE HINDU WIDOW.
Looked Upon as the Evil One Of the
Household. ~,

Looked Upon as the Evil One Of the
Household. 1s;
The formal period Of mourning for
widow In Bengal lasts for one month
with the Kayasths, the most numerous
and influential class in that part Of
lndia-the Brahmins keeping only ten
days. During this time she has to pre-
pare her own food, confining herself
to q single meal a day, which consists
of boiled rice, simplest vegetables, CHI
or clarified butter, and milk; she can
on no account touch meat, fish, eggs, or
any delicacy at ALL She is forbidden
to do up her hair and to put any scent
or oil upon her body. She must put on
the same cotton sari day and night even
when 1t is wet, and must eschew the
pleasure of bed and lie down on bare
ground, or perhaps on coarse blanket
spread on it; in some cases she cannot
even have herhair dried in the sun after
her daily morning ablution, which she
must go through before she can put
particle of food in her mouth. The old
women say that the soul of man after
his death ascends to heaven quickly
and pleasantly in proportion to the
bodily inaictions which his wife can
undergo in the month after the death of
her husband. Consequently the new
made widow, If not for any other
sreason, at least for the benefit Of sthe
soul of her departed husband, must
submit to continuous abs thence
and excruciating self-inhictions. A
whole month passes in this state of
semi-starvation; the funeral ceremon-
les, which drag on till the end of that
period, are all performed, and the rigid
observances of the widow are q little
relaxed, if 1t may be so termed, since
the only relaxation allowed to her Is
that she need not prepare the food
with her own hands, and that she
can change her clothes, but always
using only plain cotton saris. The real
misery of the widow, however, begins
after the first month. 1t is not enough
that she is quite heart-broken for her
deceased husband, and that she under
goes all the above mentioned bodily
privations; she must also continually
bear the most CALLING indignities and
the most humiliating self-sacrifices.
She cannot take an active part in any
religious or social ceremony. Ii there
be wedding in the house the widow
must not touch or in any way interfere
with the articles that are used to keep
the curious marriage customs During
the poojdhs, or religious festivals, she
Is but grudgingly allowed TO approach
near the object Of veneration, and in
some bigoted families the contact Of a
widow is supposed to pollute the mate
rials requisite for the performance of
marriage ceremonies. The widow is,
in fact, looked upon as the "evil one ("
of the house. If she has no son or
daughter to comfort her, OF il she has
to pass her whole life, as is often the
case, with her husbands family, her
condition truly becomes a helpless one.
During any ceremony orgrand occasion
she has silently to look on, others
around her enjoying and disporting
themselves, and If some kind relation
does not come to relieve her tedium she
has hardly any thing to do but to rumi-
nate on her present sad, wretched con-
dition. Every female member of
family, whether married, can 60 to par
ties, but widow cannot, and if she ex-
presses any wish to join the family on
such occasions 1t is instantly repressed
by the curt rebuke Of her mother-in-
law or some other relation that "she is
widow, and she must not have such
wishes"